Best mum

Best viewed *larger*

This is Chrissie. She was orphaned as a lamb in 2005 by the neighbouring farm, another orphan came with her (Pippa, no relation) & they've lived here on my friends farm ever since - well Pippa unfortunately died a few years ago, but Chrissie is very much alive, very much the boss & very much my favourite of my friends sheep. She's mothered 15 lambs in all her 8 years, that's quite a mean feat, this year she had triplets! She's a Berrichon du cher breed of sheep. She is so attentive as a mother, takes no funny business from anyone, man or sheep & she & I are the best of friends. She comes up to see me every time, lets me scratch her back & then she stands beside me for ages just watching, just *being* there, she has such presence & she utterly loves the camera, loves the attention. She's a very lucky sheep, in fact all of the sheep that Sue has are lucky, as most of the girls (she can't keep them all), stay for the rest of their lives on the farm, as Sue is very attached to her sheep, even the ones who have been ill or too small for breeding, she's kept them, as she always gives them a fighting chance, even if she runs at a small loss. Her eldest sheep is 13 years old, she's the last of her original south down sheep she bought 10 years ago when she first started out with the breed - after foot & mouth, they lost their entire friesian milking herd & they didn't even have the disease, but the neighbours did :( They didn't restock with dairy, but went into beef & Sue then managed to start building up a small sheep flock for herself, she only has around 15, a few more right now what with the lambs she had this year, which she still has, as the price isn't very good at the moment.

This is a pure bred south down...

Pure joy

So gym this afternoon, then off to see Sue & to her mum who lives in quite a smart old people's home, with the perfect view of cows grazing in the field, I could have sat & watched them all day! Then it was back to the farm to see the sheep, I hadn't seen them since March! It's just been a horrendously busy year for both of us! xxx